Machine for setting lacing-hooks.



No. 657,673. Patented Sept. ll. I900.

J. PIERCE.

MACHINE FOR SETTING LACING HOOKS.

(Application filed Apr. 17, 1900.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

WITNESSES: I IHy N No. 657,673. Patented Sept. II, I900. J. PIERCE.

MACHINE FDR SETTING LACING HOOKS.

(Application filed Apr. 17, 1900.)

(No Model.) 4 Sheets$heet 2.

\M I y ITNEEEEE I {JQEHTEHX I MOM/a \S\\\\\\ me a/ No. 657,673. Patented Sept. n, I900.

' J. PIERCE.

MACHINE FOB SETTING LACING HOOKS.

(Application filed Apr. 17, 1900. (No Model.) 4 Sheets-8heet 3.

ll n lil l l mu \MITNEEEEE. 10 I I My 34%. F I H I a iytlhw xucegi No. 657,673. Patented Sept. ll, I900.

J. PIERCE.

MACHINE FOR SETTING LACINGHOOKS.

(ApplIcation filed Apr. '17, 1900.) (No Model.) 4 She etsSheat 4-.

I V I I I I I I II I| n ///Ai m:

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PIERCE, OF MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO-THIRDS TO JOSEPH H. CHADBOURNE, OF VVATERTOWN, AND WALTER B. MOORE, OF SWAMPSOOTT, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR SETTING LAClNG-HOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,673, dated September 11, 1900.

Application filed April 17, 1900. Serial No. 13,219. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN PIERCE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milton, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Setting Lacing-Hooks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for setting lacing-hooks in leather and other materia s.

The invention consists in mechanism where by fasteners for boots and shoes are intermittently fed from a hopper through a discharge-opening therein directly to a raceway rigidly attached to a reciprocating plunger, all as set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claim thereof. v

Referring to the drawings,Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved machine for setting lacing-hooks. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, taken from the left-hand side of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of the machine as viewed from the right hand of Fig. 1 with the side cover of the hopper removed. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on line 4 4, Fig. 1, looking toward the right in said figure. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation taken on line 5 5, Fig. 2, looking toward the right in said figure. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail sectional views illustrating the operation of the device for preventing the lacing-hooks from sliding off the raceway. Fig. Sis a section taken on line 8 8, Fig. 4. Figs. 9 and 9 are detail views illustrating the operation of the hook-separating device.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 is the base-plate of the machine, to which are fastened the frames 11 and 12. The main driving-shaft 13 has bearings 14 14c in the frame 11, said driving-shaft being rotated by fast and loose pulleys 15 15, and has fast thereto a pinion-gear 16, said piniongear meshing in the gear 17, which turns loosely upon the cam-shaft 18, said camshaft having bearings 19 19 in the frames 11 and 12. The gear 17 is connected. with the cam-shaft 18, so as to rotate said shaft by a clutch-disk 20, said clutch-disk being keyed to the shaft 18, and has a cylindrical recess 21, Fig. 8, formed therein to receive a sliding pin 22, said sliding pin being provided with a cross-pin 23, which projects through a slot 24 in the clutch-disk 20. A spiral spring holds the sliding pin normally projecting beyond the right-hand face of the clutch-disk, Fig. 8, and so as to engage one of the four dogs 26, fast to the gear 17, and thus when the sliding pin 22 is in engagement with one of the said dogs the clutch-disk 20 and the shaft to which itis keyed are rotated by the gear 17, to which the dogs are rigidly fastened. l

The sliding-pin 22 is thrown out of engagement with the dogs 26 by the clutch-lever 70, pivoted at 71 to the frame 11, said lever being held in engagement with said clutch by a torsional spiral spring 72 and tipped upon its pivot 71, so as to disengage the upper end of said lever from the clutch by means of the treadle-rod 73, which connects with a treadle (not shown) operated by foot. When the treadle is depressed, the lever 7 O is thrown outwardly at the top and the spring 25 throws the sliding pin 22 into engagement with one of the dogs 26 upon the rotating gear 17, and the cam-shaft is then rotated by said gear and the clutch-disk 20 keyed to said cam-shaft. As long as the treadle is held depressed the lever 70is out of engagement with the clutch and the cam-shaft will be rotated. Upon releasing the treadle the lever 70 will be thrown into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 4 or into engagement with the clutchdisk 20 by the spring 72, and as the clutchdisk .20 rotates in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 4, the cross-pin 23 will come into engagement with the incline 28 on the clutch-lever and be forced by said incline to the left, Figs. 1 and 8, thus disengaging the sliding pin 22 from the dogs 26, the cross-pin 23 finally bringing u p against the shoulder 27 upon the clutchlever 70, which forms a stop for the clutchdisk and the moving parts connected therewith. As soon as the sliding pin 22 is disengaged, as hereinbefore described, from the dogs 26 the gear17 will rotate upon the shaft 18 without turning it. The friction-clamp 29,

formed of two pieces of wood joined together by screws, encircles the shaft 18 and acts as a brake thereon.

The lacing-hooks are placed in a hopper 30, from the bottom of which they are taken by a rotary picker-plate 31, which is fast to a shaft 32, having a bearing 33 in the hopper 30. A ratchet 34, fastened to the shaft 32, is given an intermittent rotation by means of a pawl 35, pawl-lever 36, and connect-ingrod 37, said connecting-rod being fast to a cam-slide 38, which is slotted or forked at 39 to straddle the cam-shaft 1S and is reciprocated by a cam-roll 40, fast thereto, said camroll traveling in the cam-path 41, formed in the cam 42.

The method of separating lacing-hooks by a picker-plate such as that shown is old and well known to those skilled in the art.

The picker-plate 31 has six fingers or arms 43. The lacing hooks are taken by these arms from the bottom of the hopper, and as the picker-plate rotates in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, the lacing-hooks are picked up by saidarms and carried from the bottom of the hopper, as shown, sliding around the curved edge of each arm of the picker-plate until each arm in its turn arrives at the position of the arm 43, with the straight edge 45 of said arm in line with the opening of the "raceway 44, whereupon the lacing-hooks will slide down the straight edge 45 of the arm 43 onto the raceway 44. The hopper 30 is cut off on its upper side at an angle of thirty degrees, so that as the lacing-hooks slide ofi of the arm 43 they will not be interfered with by said hopper, but will be perfectly free to slide off of the arm 43 and onto the raceway 44, as hereinbefore described. It will thus be seen that as the picker-plate 31 rotates in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, the different blades thereof will emerge from the hopper at the right-hand side thereof and the lacing-hooks thereon will slide off of the back edge of each arm before said arm enters the hopper again, thus leaving the way free for said lacing-hooks to slide off of the pickerplate and onto the reciprocatory raceway without danger of being stopped by the walls of the hopper. In order to prevent dirt from falling into the hopper, I provide a cover 79, hinged at 80 to the hopper 30.

The raceway 44 is made of two pieces of thin flat steel 46 47, the part 47 being fastened to the part 46 by blocks 48. The plate 46 is fastened rigidly to the vertically-reciprocating plunger 49 by a screw 50, stud 51, and screw 52. The stud passes through the plunger 49 and receives a sliding block 53, said sliding block entering a slot 54 in the lever 55. Said lever 55 is pivoted to a stud 56, fast to the frame 12, and is rocked upon said stud by a cam-roll 57 and cam 56, fast to the shaft 18. The plunger 49 slides in bearings 59 59 in the frame 12, motion being imparted thereto by the lever 55 and cam 58. The raceway 44 passes downwardly outside the bearings in the boss 66.

59 59- from the hopper 30 to the lower end of the plunger 49, where it curves under said plunger 49, ending in a short horizontal portion 60. The books are separated, as hereinafter described, so as to slide one by one to the position shown in Fig. 5, the lowermost hook being prevented from sliding off the raceway 44 by a ball 61. Said ball rests normally upon the upper face of the horizontal portion 60 of the raceway and is held thereagainst by its own weight and that of the 1 other balls 62 62, said balls being contained in a holder consisting of a hole 63, drilled in the lower. end of the plunger 49. Beneath the plunger 49 is an anvil 64, which is held in a hole formed in the top of a screw-stud Said stud is screw-threaded in the boss 66 on frame 12 and can be adjusted up and down by means of the head 67 and locked in position by the set-nut 68.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have illustrated a device for preventing the lacing-hooks from sliding off of the lower end of the raceway.

In Fig. 6 a hook is shown in full lines under the center of the plunger 49, with the lowermost ball 61 resting against the horizontal portion 60 of the raceway and preventing said hook from sliding off of the raceway.

In Fig. 7 the last hook is shown carried to the leftof the position of the hook shown in Fig. 6 in full lines, pushing the balls up in' the hole 63 and allowing the hook to pass off the raceway. The next hook thereto follows down the raceway; but it is prevented from sliding off by the ball 61, which rolls over the top of the first hook, returning in time to catch the next hook back of it and prevent said hook from leaving the raceway until it is pulled off by hand or automatically, as may be desired.

I find in practical operation that if the lacing-hooks are allowed to pass down the raceway 44, filling said raceway without any intermediate device interposed between the lowermost hook and the hopper to take the weight of said column of lacing-hooks, said hooks will be forced past the ball 61 by virtue of their own weight. In order to overcome this difficulty, I provide an escapement device consisting of a lever 74, pivoted upon stud 51, Figs. 2 and 5. Said escapement-lever has a cam-slot in the upper end thereof, which engages a pin 76, fast to the hopper 30 or to any stationary portion of the machine. Upon the lower end of the escapement-lever 74 are two fingers 77 and 78. As the plunger 49 moves up and down the escapement-lever moves with it and is oscillated upon its stud 51 by the cam-slot 75, which plays upon the pin 76, the lacing-hooks being separated, so as to drop one by one from the upper escapement-finger 77 to the lower escapem ent-finger 78, as shown in Figs. 9 and 9.

The operation of the machine as a whole is as follows The upper of the shoe being placed over the anvil in proper position, the operator places his foot upon the treadle and presses IIO the same, throwing out the clutch-lever from the position shown in Fig.4in full lines to that shown in dotted lines. The spring 25 forces the sliding pin 22 into contact with one of the dogs 26 on the rotating gear 17. As the clutch is keyed to the shaft 18, it is evident that said shaft will rotate as soon as the sliding pin on the clutch-disk 20 comes into engagement with one of the dogs 26 upon the rotating gear 17, and thus the cams 42 and 58 will be rotated. The cam 42, through the forked cam-slide 38, connecting-rod 37, pawllever 36, pawl 35, ratchet 34, and shaft 32, intermittently rotates the picker-plate 31, carrying the lacing-hooks, as described, from the bottom of the hopper around .in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, said lacing-hooks sliding off from the straight edge 45 of each arm of the picker-plate in turn onto the raceway a4, and as said raceway moves up and down with the plunger 49, said plunger being reciprocated by the lever 55 and cam 58, it is evident that the lacing-hooks cannot slide off of the picker-plate onto the raceway except when said raceway and plunger are at the lowermost point. At all other times the hooks will be prevented from sliding off the picker-plate by the plate 46. The lacing hooks after leaving the picker-plate enter the raceway 4i and rest upon the upper escapement-finger77, thence to the finger 78, whence they are dropped, as shown in Figs. 9 and 9, one by one to the lower end of the raceway, as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 3 I have shown the raceway and plunger in the lowermost position with the lacing-hooks being set or fastened in the upper 69 of the shoe. When the plunger ascends from the position shown in Fig. 3 to a sufficient distance to clear a lacing hook from the anvil, the operator moves the upper of the shoe to the right, Fig. 1, or to the left, Figs. 6 and 7, and places the upper in the proper position to receive another lacing-hook carried at the lower end of the plunger, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5.

I prefer to time the machine so that the picker-plate will arrive at the position shown in Fig. 3 before the plunger and raceway have arrived at the lowermost point, so that the jar which occurs in setting the lacing-hooks when said plunger and raceway have arrived at the lowermost point will tend to feed the lacing-hooks from the picker-plate onto the raceway 44.

It will be seen that by the arrangement of the raceway in relation to the picker-plate the lacing-hooks are delivered directly from said picker-plate to the reciprocating raceway 44, so that the hook as it slides down the raceway and turns at the bottom thereof to a vertical position is brought into a proper position over the anvil to be set or fastened to the upper of the shoe presented thereto, as above described.

The advantages attained by the construction and arrangement of the raceway, whereby the lacing-hooks are delivered directly from the picker-plate to the raceway, are extreme simplicity in construction and operation,the lacing-hooks passing from the pickerplate to its vertical position beneath the plunger with only one quarter-turn in said raceway.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a machine for setting lacing-hooks, a reciprocating plunger, a hopper, a dischargeopening in said hopper, a raceway rigidly attached to said reciprocating plunger, and making sliding contact with said hopper to intermittently receive fasteners therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN PIERCE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES S. GOODING, R. HENRY MARSH. 

